The name of the Lord is a strong tower

This is an outcome of my personal study.

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own esteem.

Proverbs 18:10 to 11

I looked through my Bible’s concordance to see references to the words “tower” and “strong tower” and found five main references, with just four helping me understand better. They are in Genesis 11, 2 Samuel 22, Psalm 48:12, and Matthew 21:33, and the following stood out.

What the towers were for

In Genesis 11, the people of Babel saw the tower they were building as what bound them together, giving them an identity that unified their bonds. They saw it as a point or reason big enough to house their collective identity. Their words were: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

In 2 Samuel 22, David used a metaphor describing the Lord as a “High Tower.” He goes further to describe the High Tower as the source of his rock. It is also his place of refuge, his Saviour from violence who saved him from his enemies. Up to the eighth verse of the same text, he described how he was saved, even when the wages of death, being a legalistic claim and a due reward for his deeds and actions, made him fear.

In Psalm 48, David, metaphorically speaking again, asks for the towers of Zion to be told that God will be their Guide even unto death. Meaning that the reliance for guidance will no longer come from confidence in the towers of Zion and the security they provide, but from God. It is admissible that a tower is also seen as a stronghold and a place for guidance.

Jesus in Matthew 21:33 narrates the parable of the vineyard, where He described a certain vineyard owned by a farmer who had erected a tower on it. I did a little research and learned that both farmers and the military built towers at the time, to fulfil different purposes.

A farmer’s watchtower, built on the hilly part of the farmland:

• Gave a good view of the whole expanse of the farmland
• Had no windows and only one door
• Was built with heavy stones, to protect against the weather
• The heavy stones also protected against attackers, which made it a safe place to stay
• The heavy stones kept the temperature cool, making it suitable to store up harvest
• Had lookout areas with no walls or obstruction
• Housed the farmer and his family during harvest time
• Was always the highest point in the vineyard

And based on Luke 13:4, when military towers fall, those taking refuge in them fall as well, possibly leading to loss of lives or fatal injuries.

Putting it together

Then I went back to what I was studying: how the name of the Lord is a strong tower. In the course of my thinking, I recalled that rocks refer to building blocks in the context of constructing a tower, and in relation to David’s revelation, his rock came from the High Tower.

Names are the major and most primary means to identify a person. Names are so important that in many instances in the Bible, when God wanted to change some men and their stories to yield groundbreaking results, He gave them a new name. Abraham, formerly Abram. Sarah, formerly Sarai. Israel, formerly Jacob. Peter, formerly Simon. Paul, formerly Saul.

Philippians 2:9 shows that God exalted Christ’s name above every other name. In other words, God has placed the identity of Christ above all other identities. This makes us realise that the refuge a believer needs is in the name of Jesus.

What that means

Based on the references and my understanding of them so far, the name of Jesus, as well as its authority, rights, privileges, and identity, affirms the following. That as a strong tower, the name of Jesus:

• Is the binding force bringing believers together
• Is the one in which we have our identities
• Is the source of everything that builds us up, that is, our faith and related actions
• Is the potent form of protection when life’s violence comes at us, saving us from evil, from enemies, from the enemy
• Saves us from all demands even when we are deserving of negative outcomes
• Is a guide for our lives until the day we die physically, provided the Lord’s return does not happen before then
• Is the sure place and source for guidance
• Is the highest point to hide in all situations, and the best place to see things clearly
• Just like the tower with no windows, is a place we should hide without looking out for what is coming, and what is outside cannot peek into our benefits
• Is made or seen to be stronger by the level of faith, the weight of rocks, that withstands all the weathers and storms of our lives

The stronger our faith, the more confident we are in God’s protection. With these on the forefront of our consciousness, we now know that:

The name and identity of Christ is the best place to keep and preserve our treasures. We get to see clearly when we are confidently in the strong tower, looking from the highest places. When it is time to gather the harvest of saints, it will be those residing in the identity of Christ. God does not stop being Himself as He watches over us; all He does is from the highest place. And the safety in Christ cannot fail, unlike the human-made towers in human-made gods. As a result, we can never fall.

Conclusively, the name of the Lord is the strong tower. When we run into it, into the authority, into the identity, we are safe.